I. Technical Field
This invention pertains to information storage, and particularly to information storage devices or units which incorporate or include media modules such as cartridges or cassettes of information storage media.
II. Related Art and Other Considerations
Most computer systems have on-board memory in the form of, e.g., random access memory (RAM) or read only memory (RAM) chips which are mounted on a circuit board or the like within a cabinet or frame of the computer. Many computer systems also have access to additional memory in the form of electronic (e.g. magnetic) media which is stored in a removable unit or media module such as cassette or cartridge. The removable media module can be inserted into a slot or port or rack of the computer frame in order to facilitate input/output operations of data (e.g., recording and reproduction of data in the form of signals written to or read from the storage media).
One type of storage media module of recent interest is an RD®-type cartridge which comprises a disk drive mounted in a sealed exterior cartridge. The disk drive is a laptop-style 2.5-inch disk drive, which has built-in accelerometers, head ramp unloading, and other features that makes it more tolerant of shock and vibration than their 3.5-inch counterparts. The cartridge can be inserted into an external USB or internal SATA dock that locks the cartridge in place under software control so the user cannot remove a cartridge undergoing a recording operation. The RDX®-type cartridge has a SATA interface connector that provides the power and data communication interface between the hard disk drive and a docking station. The RDX®-type cartridge has a plastic cartridge shell and internal shock isolation material around the hard disk drive to provide a shock-mounting system. The cartridge has no other electronics besides that in the hard disk drive. There is a light pipe that takes light from an LED in the docking station and pipes to the front surface of the cartridge for the user to see while the cartridge is plugged in the dock. This is a bi-color LED that shows read/write activity with the disk and status.
A Lexmark Jump drive a USB flash memory stick has a capacity bar graph display which obtains the information to be displayed through the native host USB interface in the product, but not through a separate optical link.
It can be problematic to identify media modules such as cartridges when the media modules are not loaded into a host system, e.g., when the media modules are extracted from the computer system and situated externally for storage while not in use. A primitive way of identifying a storage media module is to provide a legible label to a prominent surface of the media module. That is, for identification purposes existing prior art modules typically only have a paper bar graph label or serial number on the module.